This invention relates to skating and other apparatus, particularlyxe2x80x94but not exclusivelyxe2x80x94to roller skates, i.e. skates comprising platform means to support a skater, the platform being mounted on a pair of front wheels or rollers and a pair of rear wheels or rollers.
Although most conventional roller skates have both pairs of wheels continuously capable of free-wheeling in both directions (to permit both forward and rearward skating), trainer roller skates have recently become popular for learners, e.g. children. These trainer roller skates are selectively settable (a) to provide for bi-directional wheel rolling motion, i.e. for forward and rearward skating, and (b) to provide for uni-directional wheel rolling motion, i.e. to inhibit rearward skating. Some trainer roller skates are additionally settable (c) to provide for no wheel rolling motion, i.e. to inhibit both forward and rearward skating.
Examples of such trainer roller skates are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,676 and French Patent No. 2700705. Each has an axle upon which the front wheels are mounted, an axle upon which the rear wheels are mounted, and a fixed spacing between the two axles. Each also has setting means providing for the movement of a member (e.g. a pawl or a lever) in to or out of interference with at least one wheel.
The operation of the roller skates per U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,676 in, for example, state (b) is often noisy due to the ratcheting action required for its pawl. The operation of the roller skates per French No. 2700705 is in practice not wholly satisfactory as the intended frictional engagement between its parts in, for example, state (b) or (c) is sometimes insufficient so that the intended function cannot be wholly relied upon.
With a view to overcoming or at least reducing the above-mentioned and/or other disadvantages of the prior art, the present invention, in one aspect thereof, provides a training roller skate comprising rollers or wheels and mounting means therefor, and further comprising motion inhibiting means for contacting a surface associated with at least one of said wheels to inhibit its rotary motion, characterised in that the mounting means for said at least one wheel is movable (preferably in a direction transverse to the wheel axis) to permit contact between the said wheel associated surface and the motion inhibiting means.
Preferably said mounting means is operably associated with setting means and is constrained in a first position, out of said contact, by setting of the setting means in a first positional setting, a second positional setting of the setting means permitting said contact to occur in use automatically upon a user""s attempt to skate backwards.
In one preferred embodiment the trainer roller skate""s setting means is additionally settable to a third positional setting in which rotation of the wheels is inhibited in both directions such as to inhibit both forwards skating and rearwards skating.
In one preferred embodiment of the trainer roller skate a platform is provided to support a skater""s foot, said mounting means includes a carrier member carrying an axle upon which the said at least one wheel is mounted, and the skate comprises means mounting the carrier member for relative movement with respect to the platformxe2x80x94preferably in a direction transverse to the axis of said axle.
Preferably the setting means includes a rotatably mounted control element having an eccentric cam member engageable with a part of said carrier member such as to position and/or effect location of the axle carrying carrier member as aforesaid.
Advantageously the trainer roller skate comprises first and second motion inhibition means, the first motion inhibition means being engageable by said wheel associated surface when the setting means occupies said second position, and the second motion inhibition means being engageable by one or both said wheels (or a surface thereof) when the setting means occupies said third position.
Preferably the first motion inhibition means comprises a pad of frictional material. The pad may have an arcuate surface engageable by said wheel associated surface, and preferably has two such arcuate surfaces spaced apart laterally of the skate and engageable by surfaces associated with both said wheels.
Advantageously the pad comprises an integral projection directed forwardly of the skate to provide a so-called xe2x80x9ctoe brakexe2x80x9dthat can engage the skating surface (e.g. the ground) when in use the skate is tilted.
In one embodiment of the present invention the setting means is operable on the carrier member to position the axle, in said third position, for engagement of said at least one surface by both the first and second motion inhibition means. Preferably, in this case the second motion inhibition means comprises a friction pad.
In an alternative (and preferred) embodiment of the present invention the setting means is operable on the carrier member to position the axle, in said third position, for engagement of said at least one surface by the second motion inhibition means only. Preferably, in this case, the second motion inhibition means comprises a dog tooth clutch arrangement comprising a positionally fixed tooth engageable in one of a plurality of slots provided in the outer surface of a hub of one said wheel.
Advantageously a pair of such dog teeth are provided, one to each side of the trainer roller skates, to be engageable as aforesaid with a hub of each said wheel.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a roller skate comprising
a front shoe part defining a forward platform portion to support a skater""s foot and further defining toe cap support means, and
a separately formed toe cap attached (e.g. removably) to said toe cap support means.
Such an arrangement permits toe caps of alternative shapes and forms (e.g. representing cartoon characters) to be selectively attached to the toe cap support means.
Preferably inter-engageable snap-fit means are associated with the toe cap and the toe cap support means to permit their mutual attachment in a snap-fitted manner.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a roller skate including
a platform to support a skater""s foot,
at least one roller mounted movably with respect to the platform, and
a brake pad of frictional material attached to said platform and engageable by said roller, said brake pad being provided integrally with a projection frictionally to engage the skating surface, e.g. the ground, when the platform is tilted.
Preferably the projection is directed forwardly of the skate to constitute a so-called xe2x80x9ctoe brakexe2x80x9d.
Preferably the skate is a training skate and the brake pad, when engaged by said roller, serves to inhibit rearward motion of the skate. member bestrides this pair of surfaces such that the latter resist laterally inward motion of the fingers and their laterally directed tabs or barbs such as to prevent disengagement of the lock members from the said other carriage.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention there is provided a fastening arrangement (preferably, but not exclusively, for a roller skatexe2x80x94e.g. a training roller skate), the fastening arrangement comprising:
a strap having (preferably between edges of the strap) a plurality of recesses in a major surface of the strap; and
a buckle having a body member in the form of an arched structure through which the strap is to extend and further having a pawl member disposed between said major surface of the strapxe2x80x94when the latter is in the bucklexe2x80x94and a facing wall of the body member, said pawl member having a tip end for entry into any selected one of said recesses,
characterised in that one of said members is provided with a laterally-extending element (e.g. a rib or a wall), and the other of said members is provided with a laterally-extending channel to accommodate the element and define therewith a pivot axis for the pawl member.
In one preferred arrangement the pawl member is molded of plastics material integrally with a pair of side wings that, when displaced or deformed, provide a resilient restoring force to urge the tip end of the pawl member towards said major surface and for engagement into a selected one of said recesses.
Advantageously each of side wings is provided at its free end with a depending foot to be accommodated between a side wall of the body member and an adjacent edge of the strap when the latter extends through the body member.
Preferably said fastening arrangement is incorporated in a skate, e.g. an ice skate or a roller skate (e.g. a training or a conventional two-axle roller skate or a training or a conventional in-line roller skate).
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a training roller skate comprising a main body, rollers or wheels and mounting means therefor, wherein at least one of said wheels has a surface associated therewith provided with at least one projection or recess, said body is provided with at least one recess or projection dimensioned for mating engagement with the (or at least one of the) said surface projection or recess, and wherein the mounting means for said at least one wheel is movable selectively to effect such mating engagementxe2x80x94to inhibit both forwards skating and rearwards skatingxe2x80x94and out of such mating engagementxe2x80x94to permit skating in at least the forwards direction.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention there is provided a roller skate comprising:
a forward carriage and a rearward carriage,
length adjustment means interconnecting the first and second carriages; and
locking means to lock the interconnected first and second carriages in a selected one of a plurality of predetermined relative positions;
wherein the locking means comprises, to each side (of the skate""s longitudinal central axis):
an elongate channel having one said wall thereof formed with a plurality of slot-like openings depending from one of said carriages; and
a lock member mounted for pivoting motion on the other of said carriages, said lock member having a first finger to extend through an opening in a wall of said other carriage and abut against the opposite wall of said recess, and having a second finger to extend through the same or another opening in said carriage wall and to engage into a selected one of the slot-like openings.
Preferably the two first fingers are laterally resilient and have laterally directed tabs or barbs to resist passage of the first fingers through the first-mentioned openings.
Preferably one of said carriages has an elongate beam provided with a pair of upwardly directed surfaces and, when the said carriages are interconnected, the lock
According to a seventh aspect of this invention there is provided a fastening arrangement (preferably, but not exclusively, for a roller skatexe2x80x94e.g. a training roller skate), the fastening arrangement comprising a strap and a buckle releasably engageable with the strap, wherein the strap has a major surface provided with a plurality of recesses therein and the buckle comprises a pawl member mounted on a body memberxe2x80x94through which passes the strap to be fastenedxe2x80x94and such as to be movable into and out of an engaged state in which the pawl member is in selective engagement of one or more individual recesses, wherein one of said members is molded of plastics material integrally with at least one inherently resilient limb that is engageable of the other of said members to provide a restoring force countering disengagement of the pawl member from its said state of recess engagement.
It is considered that fastening means according to the last two mentioned aspects of the present invention may be used in a wide range of varied applications where a length-adjustable, quick-release binding is required. Such applications include luggage straps, rucksack shoulder straps, ankle straps for footwear, e.g. sandals and skates (such as roller skates and in-line skates) and toe straps for footwear, e.g. orthopaedic shoes. Preferably however, said fastening arrangement is incorporated in a skate, e.g. an ice skate or a roller skate (e.g. a training or a conventional two-axle roller skate or a training or a conventional in-line roller skate).